One Magic Square Vegetable Gardening

One Magic Square provides a starting point for creating a small home garden. By starting with just a 3 foot square, a sustainable garden can be created and then slowly expanded upon over time. The book is comprehensive and easy to follow, with all the information needed to start a small plot. Note that there aren't many pictures or illustrations, so this is a do-by-reading experience. But Houbein is friendly, encouraging, and doesn't mince words and the layout is clean and friendly. At 350+ pages, this is a comprehensive one-stop resource.

The book breaks down as follows: Part 1: Towards Sustainable and Self-Sufficient Food Growing (The terrifying importance of growing food, How to get started, how to find time to grow food, Gardening with attitude, Ten green rules); Part 2: Growing and Enjoying Your Magic Square (Starting and maintaining, Soil secrets, Compost compositions, Seeds and seedlings, Easy-care fruit trees, Companion planting and intercropping, Water and watering, Plant food and soil food, The Message of mulch, Pruning, Pinching, and thinning, Crop rotation and green crops, Problem solving, What to do about weeds, Pests and predators, An A-Z of pests and problems, Livestock, birds, bees, and frogs, Hardware in the food garden, Thinking outside the magic square, The seasons, Climate, weather and micro climates, Permaculture, Saving seed, From garden to table, Essential utensils, Cupboard self sufficiency); Part 3: The Magic Square Plots (Salad plots, Fava bean plot, Omega-3 plot, Antioxidants plot, Beans plot, Stir-fry plots, Root crop plot, Pasta/pizza plots, Wild greens plot, Aztec plot, Pea plot, Melon plot, Herb plot, Soup plot, Pick and come again plot, Starchy staples plot, Rotating mono-crops plot, Onion and garlic plot, Anti-cancer plots, Barry plots and hedges, The spice companions); Part 4: Descriptions of Food Plants (An A-Z of vegetable groups, Summer, winter and all season vegetables, common vegetables how to grow and use them, List of common herbs, Easy care fruit trees and berries, List of easy care fruit trees and berries. Notes, References and further reading, useful addresses, acknowledgements, Index.

As can be seen above, the book is thorough. There is a strong emphasis on sustainability and organic methods - especially dealing with fertilizing and pest control. Most useful are all the different types of plots - created and designed for synergy in mind. Like salads? There are some great choices. Rather have an herb plot for cooking? Covered here. Those plots take up a large chunk of the book and provide endless inspiration for different gardens.

One magic Square provides everything the novice gardener needs to get started. Of note is that the book draws upon the author's experience of decades of making gardens in Australia; as such, there isn't as much about Winterizing, snow, or growing in extremely short seasons (e.g., North America or Europe/England). But in all, there is a lot here to love. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I have grown in square foot gardens for the past three years, but this book will be a huge step forward in helping me better utilize, plan and for next year's crops. I loved the intro and the 10 green rules. I found the section on improving the soil to be the biggest help and the most concise and informative I have read on this topic. It is straightforward with great, realistic ideas on how to best improve a backyard garden based on the time you have and what you hope to accomplish. This is definitely a resource I will consult year round!

Now that I’ve read this book, I can’t wait to try some of the ideas. I love the idea of planting different plants in a square rather than those long rows. Somehow it seems less intimidating. I feel like I could do it, and believe me, I have nothing close to a green thumb. It’s too advanced for my kids, but I would recommend it wholeheartedly to any public library.

This concept still perplexes me that I can have my own garden. Houbein gives easy to follow instructions for every type of person which I appreciated. I have a small space and this was the perfect book to introduce me to gardening. Those who think they have no room to garden must read this book!

I like the idea of a square yard (as opposed to square-foot gardening) for starting a garden. The book has some great ideas, particularly for those who think they're too busy to keep a food garden (for example, suggestions made of things to pick up on way home from work, or things that can be done on a a weekend). The author clearly has lots of expertise in sustainable gardening, and the first half of the book provides everything a novice would need to know to start a garden, from weather to pruning to fertilizer.

Later chapters focus on a large variety of garden plot designs, from a "soup plot" to a "spice companions plot." Those look really interesting to me, a veteran gardener. And, the last part of the book describes various food plants and gives some pointers for growing each.

One couldn't ask for a better "primer" for a novice gardener. My one concern is that the first half of the book is a bit too wordy for the busy gardener, very people it's supposed to be targeting. It might cause someone to not explore deeper into the book. That said, the writing is great, with personal examples and just the right amount of information, IF someone takes the time to read it. It would serve the reader better if early chapters were shorter, more bulleted phrases/steps were used to break up the paragraphs, and if there were more diagrams/tables/illustrations.

I look forward to getting a copy of this book for my gardening library!

Honestly, one of the best food garden design books I have come across. Imaginative gardens are presented, with such easy to follow directions. Information on amending soil, compost and vegetable varieties to choose is invaluable. Highly recommended to any food gardener!